The Last Thing He Needs (11 page)

“He’s not a skinhead!” Davey defended his friend. “He gets lice all the time so his mom makes him shave every other day!”

Carrie put her hands up and covered her hair. “I’d rather him be a skinhead!”

That got a laugh from Colleen, and Tommy figured Davey and his lice-ridden, possibly skinhead friend were safe for the moment. He pulled a stool up to the table and grabbed his plate. “How’s your breakfast, Bobby?” he asked with a smirk, thinking Bobby hadn’t had any idea what he was getting himself into.

W
HEN
THE
kids were done eating, Tommy sent them off to do chores and reminded them to get their rooms cleaned up and their beds made if they hadn’t done it already. None of them looked thrilled about it, but they went without arguing, for which he was grateful.

Colleen had started gathering the dishes, and Mike was helping clear the table.

“No way,” he told them. “You two cooked, get outta here.”

Mike didn’t wait for Tommy to change his mind—he tore out of the kitchen like someone had set him on fire. Colleen smiled at Tommy and asked, “You sure? It’s a big mess.”

“I’m sure, Col.” He knew she had the day off and added, “Go hang out with Wyatt or take a nap or something. You make me tired just watching you.”

She nodded and grabbed her phone as she went out the back door. Bobby was already on his feet, taking over where Mike had left off, scraping plates into the trashcan and rinsing the dishes. They were alone together after a very long, very raucous breakfast.

Tommy walked up behind Bobby, close, but not quite touching. “You don’t need to do that.”

Bobby glanced over his shoulder. “I know.”

Tommy bumped his shoulder against Bobby’s back. “If you wanna take off, it’s cool, ya know?” He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he opened the dishwasher and started to load it.

Bobby passed him a rinsed plate. “Is it cool if I don’t wanna take off?”

Considering his answer for a beat, Tommy let his gaze rake over Bobby’s body, feeling a quick rush of want ride through him. He stepped closer again and dipped his head so his face was nearly touching Bobby’s. He inhaled and then whispered in Bobby’s ear, “Sure, but take a shower. You smell like sex.” He could hear Bobby’s breath catch.

“What are the odds of us getting enough privacy for you to join me?” Bobby looked like he’d already forgotten the dishes.

Tommy grunted a laugh. “Slim to none.” He slid another plate into the dishwasher. “Even if the kids were gone, I wouldn’t wanna risk them coming home and walking in on us. Plus, ya know, one bathroom, eight people. Ten, if Cal and Cheryl are around.”

Looking resigned but not unhappy, Bobby turned back to rinsing the dishes. “Good point.” He passed another plate to Tommy and asked, “Have you heard from them? Cal and Cheryl, I mean.”

“They were gone for a few weeks, but they turned up again the other night.” Tommy couldn’t help a huff of annoyance as he remembered the phone call at three in the morning. His father had been wasted and Cheryl was whining at Tommy for a ride home. He hung up on them and unplugged the phone, but they still managed to find their way back. “Not sure where they are now, but I’m sure we’ll get another visit soon. They’re worse than herpes, can’t get rid of ’em for long.”

Bobby laughed as he said, “I hope you’re not speaking from experience.”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and find out.”

“Asshole.” Bobby didn’t sound put off; he sounded like he knew Tommy was giving him shit and was prepared to give it right back. “I guess I should’ve mentioned it last night, but I picked up a raging case of crabs a week or so ago. It’s probably all cleared up, but….”

“Now who’s the asshole?” Tommy slapped Bobby’s ass for that, laughing when he jumped.

The dishes were loaded and the counters wiped down. The kitchen wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.

“Guess you’re rubbing off on me.” Bobby was leaning against the counter, drying his hands on a dishtowel.

Tommy stepped closer, pulling the cloth from Bobby’s fingers as he pressed against him. “I know I’d like to be….”

He leaned in and was just about to kiss Bobby when the door to the kitchen swung open with a bang. He and Bobby both flinched at the noise, but they didn’t pull away from each other. Tommy had to remind himself he wasn’t doing anything wrong and there was no reason the kids shouldn’t see him stand close to Bobby or even kiss him. “Don’t slam the door like that,” he told Collin, who was dragging a bag of garbage through the kitchen.

“Sorry, Tommy.” Collin paused to look at them, his expression undecided for a minute, but then he shrugged and continued on out the back door and off to the trashcans outside.

Tommy watched him go before he turned his attention back to Bobby. “You sure you wanna hang out here all day?” He smiled and kissed Bobby quickly before they could be interrupted again.

Bobby relaxed against him, making a sound in the back of his throat that had Tommy’s pulse quickening. They both groaned and pulled back when they heard the back door open again. Collin trudged through and didn’t pay them any attention, but the moment was lost.

“I’m sure.” Bobby stepped away from the counter. “But I think I’m gonna run home for a quick shower and change and then be back.”

Not liking the way his stomach dropped at Bobby’s words, Tommy nodded. “Sounds like a good plan. You work tonight?”

“I’m off till Monday. This is my one guaranteed weekend a month.” Bobby looked hopeful as he asked, “What about you?”

Tommy was leaning against the stove, standing opposite Bobby. There wasn’t much space between them, but it was more than he liked. Now that he’d given himself permission to touch and kiss Bobby, it was all he wanted to do when they were in the same room together. “Nine till two.” He worked his lip between his teeth before adding, “I’m off tomorrow, though.”

Bobby stood up straighter at his words. Tommy could tell by the look on Bobby’s face he was formulating a plan. “Any chance you could just come back to my place after work tonight?” he asked, stepping closer to Tommy, putting his hands on Tommy’s waist.

He wanted to say yes. “For the night?”

Bobby tipped his face up and kissed Tommy’s jaw. “For as long as you can,” he whispered.

Another surge of desire raced through Tommy at the idea, but a night away from the house was a bad plan for too many reasons. “I don’t know. If Pop and Cheryl come home in the middle of the night, or if something goes wrong here and I’m not around….”

Sighing again, Bobby pulled back and caught Tommy’s eye. “How about we make sure Colleen has my numbers, and if your folks show up before you get off work, we abort the plan. But if they don’t show up and everything is okay around here, you drop by for a few hours after your shift?”

Tommy was grateful Bobby seemed to be suggesting an alternative, not pushing him. “All right, I think I can swing that.”

Bobby gave him another quick kiss for his answer. “Good. Now I’m gonna run home and get cleaned up.” He pulled back before anyone had a chance to walk in on them.

“Need a lift?”

He smiled at Tommy and said, “I’ll jog. Need to get a run in anyway.”

Tommy laughed at that. He only ran when he was being chased.

T
OMMY
HAD
managed to get the house in order, hook up with Kelly to make sure she got her cut of the money from his deal the night before, shave, shower, and start a load of laundry before Bobby got back. Not bad for a couple of hours. He was sitting on the front step smoking a cigarette when Bobby pulled up in front of the house.

Max and Zoe were playing in the yard, and Bobby stopped to greet them, picking Zoe up when she reached out to him. He carried her up the walkway.

“Looks like you’ve got a fangirl,” Tommy pointed out, laughing. He took one more drag off his cigarette, blowing the smoke away from them, before he crushed it out and dropped it in the bucket of sand he kept out there for his butts.

“Maybe I should keep her.” Bobby pulled back to look at Zoe’s face. “I can put her in my pocket.” He kissed her hand when she tried to grab his nose and said in a playful voice, “You wanna help me catch bad guys all day, Zoe?” When Tommy shot him a look, Bobby corrected himself. “The
actual
bad guys. Not the guys just trying to get by.”

A few thoughts ran through Tommy’s head. He considered accusing Bobby of swooping again, and he tried to beat down the fear skittering through him at the little joke about Bobby keeping her. Instead he said, “Careful what you fill their heads with. Mike and Davey already got records. I doubt they’d make it past the background check if they decided to sign up.” Tommy stood up and walked down the last couple of steps to Max. He picked him up and kissed his cheek.

Bobby looked somewhere between hurt and worried before he spoke. “Juvenile records can be worked around or expunged,” he told Tommy as they headed into the house. “They just need to be careful as they get older,” he added, still sounding like a whole battalion of O’Shea cops was a possibility if they applied themselves. When Tommy stopped and stared at him, Bobby asked, “What?”

Tommy shook his head and laughed as he put Max down by the toy basket. “Nothing.”

“No, what?” Bobby pressed him, looking playful but curious.

Tommy gave in and told Bobby what he was really thinking. “You’re too much of an optimist to be hanging around here.”

“Maybe you guys need a little optimism,” Bobby countered, taking up the challenge.

“That’s the last thing we need. Who do you think has to pick up the pieces when they get their hopes up and then get the rug pulled out from under them?” Tommy wasn’t nettled, his words weren’t edged with anger, but he felt strongly about what he was saying.

Bobby was still holding Zoe close, looking at Tommy like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What if the rug doesn’t get pulled out from under them?” he asked softly, sitting down on the battered couch and bouncing Zoe on his knee.

“Look around, Bobby.” Tommy huffed in frustration. “Our whole life is one shitty scenario after another.” When it looked like Bobby was about to comment on that, Tommy cut him off before Bobby could get started. “The best chance I’ve got is to get Colleen through high school, get Mike and Davey into a trade school at some point, and make sure they know how to do something that’ll keep ’em going. They’ll be plumbers or mechanics or some shit, but at least they won’t be shiftless bums. Assuming I can keep ’em in school and outta jail that long, which is touch and go, if you haven’t noticed.” Bobby was quiet, looking like he disagreed but wasn’t about to argue, so Tommy added, “That’s as close to optimism as I get.”

When Bobby might have offered more on the topic, Collin came running into the house, chasing after Davey. Tommy could tell by the way they carried themselves and held their arms over their stomachs they were hiding something, trying to sneak it in.

“Freeze!” he shouted.

Both kids skidded to a stop.

They had been moving too fast at first for Tommy to see the bulge under Collin’s T-shirt. It wiggled. Collin looked like something out of a horror movie, as if an alien was about to pop out of his stomach.

“What gives?” Tommy had already guessed, but he wanted to give them a chance to explain.

Collin took a deep breath and then yelped. Tommy could tell Bobby was trying not to laugh as Collin winced and lifted his shirt. A small cat was plastered to Collin’s chest, claws digging into his skin. “Can we keep him, Tommy?”

Davey pulled a bag of kitten chow out from under his jacket then and said quickly, “We’ll take care of him, and he won’t be any trouble.”

As Collin tried to detach the animal, the cat started hissing and growling, squirming in his grip.

Tommy jumped back when the cat spat at him. “Jesus, where’d you find that thing?”

Davey answered excitedly, “Down at that old abandoned house on Mimosa. There’s, like, I don’t know, twenty of ’em down there.”

Tommy reached for the cat when it looked like it might claw Collin’s eyes out. “Gimme that,” he said, trying to take it from his brother. The cat hissed more, scratching and biting at Tommy. “It’s a wild animal, for fuck’s sake. You can’t raise it to be a pet. Christ. What’re they called?” He glanced at Bobby, who wasn’t even trying to hide his amusement any longer.

“Feral,” Bobby answered, laughing. “You should go get those scratches cleaned up, Collin, and keep an eye out for infection or any red lines branching off from them.”

Tommy was still fighting with the cat as he tried to get to the door. “Yeah, we know the drill.”

When he tossed the cat into the yard, it took off like a bat out of hell, scrambling up the fence and darting across the street so fast it was a blur. Tommy’s hands were bleeding. He leveled a condemning glare at Collin. “You’re lucky that thing didn’t get to the twins.” He didn’t bother with more of a lecture because Collin and Davey looked like they realized how bad that would have been. “Go get cleaned up.” He let out another curse when he looked at his own injuries and started for the kitchen, but the phone rang and he stopped to answer it.

Colleen was on the other end of the line, sounding upset. “Tommy?” She was sniffling.

Dread socked Tommy in the stomach when he answered her, “What’s wrong?”

Bobby set Zoe down and stood up, walking over to Tommy.

“Nothing….” She sounded like she was still trying to understand what was wrong exactly. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m down at the police station. Some guys jumped me and Wyatt on our way back from the park and—”

“Police station? What happened, Col?” Tommy wanted to curse or kick something, but he forced himself to stay calm.

She sounded like she was about to lose it. “I don’t know. I mean, they jumped us, and they were trying to roll Wyatt, and I took my bat and went after them, and….”

He had to swallow his panic as he wondered what else had happened. “Are you okay?”

“I think so, but can you come get me?” She sounded just like she had when she was eight and got caught shoplifting at the corner store. The owner hadn’t called the cops, but Colleen had been terrified, and Tommy was the only one home when she called.